A powerful memoir of resilience and leadership: how a woman who survived abuse in India built a transformative career in cybersecurity, challenging industry barriers and inspiring others to embrace failure as fuel for growth.
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I learned that public setbacks are temporary, but quiet perseverance has a way of becoming impossible to ignore. Excellence has a longer memory than failure.
Aparna Kadari, CISM, CISA · In Her Own Words
Her Story
About Aparna
Aparna Kadari is a cybersecurity leader serving as Director of Cybersecurity at Delviom, LLC, where she leads cybersecurity strategy, engineering, operations, and risk management across complex federal and commercial environments. Her work centers on transforming client needs into clear, scalable, and actionable outcomes — from modernization roadmaps and vulnerability remediation to patch management programs and cybersecurity training initiatives supporting federal leadership. She remains deeply involved in both strategic planning and operational execution, ensuring security programs are measurable, resilient, and aligned to mission continuity and business objectives. Her leadership philosophy is rooted in operational clarity, resilience, and enabling security that empowers rather than impedes the business.
An operator at heart, Aparna began her career in data entry and steadily advanced through IT project management, technical leadership, production support, enterprise operations, and large-scale program management before transitioning into cybersecurity leadership. Over the years, she has built and led engineering and security operations teams, modernized legacy environments, and guided organizations through multi-cloud transformation initiatives while improving operational stability and reducing workforce fatigue associated with constant rotational demands. Known for disciplined execution at scale, she has successfully managed enterprise budgets exceeding $110 million while maintaining variances below 0.1%, consistently delivering operational efficiency, continuity, and measurable business impact.
Throughout her career, Aparna has expanded her expertise across infrastructure, endpoint security, cloud transformation, enterprise risk management, and large-scale program delivery within highly regulated environments. She has led major modernization initiatives, Zero Trust adoption efforts, automation-driven operational improvements, and enterprise cybersecurity programs that strengthened both resilience and governance.
Beyond her corporate leadership, Aparna is an active mentor and advocate through organizations such as Women in Technology and broader cybersecurity communities. She has been recognized as an OnConferences Icon Top 50 Information Security Professional and is widely respected for blending technical depth with empathy, operational excellence, and long-term strategic vision. She holds an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and continues to champion a human-centered approach to cybersecurity leadership.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Aparna
01What do you attribute your success to?
There have been many sources of inspiration throughout my life. My mother was my first mentor and continues to be one of my greatest influences, while my husband, Ram Shivareddy, has been a trusted technical mentor for decades. I owe much of my success to the leaders and mentors who guided me through difficult moments and helped shape both my personal and professional growth.
I’ve been fortunate to learn from extraordinary women and men throughout my career, and I remain deeply grateful for their support, wisdom, encouragement, and belief in me. I would especially like to recognize Stephen Brannon, Jeffrey Kadans, Vasanth Barre, Kevin McDonald, Deedie Weaver, Supriya Ahuja, Teresa Alvarez, and Michael Magill, whose mentorship, leadership, and encouragement have left a lasting impact on my journey and continue to inspire me to grow, lead, and rise further.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was this: to be noticed, you need to bring something unique and have the courage to be different. In a world filled with talented people, what truly sets someone apart is not just skill, but authenticity, perspective, and the willingness to create their own path. What resonated with me most was the reminder that success should not be defined by the crowd. We each have to create our own success criteria, stay true to our strengths, and resist the pressure to simply blend in.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
As technology evolves at the speed of AI and quantum computing, continuous learning is no longer optional - it is survival. The world is changing in nanoseconds, and the ability to adapt, learn new skills, and evolve will define the future of leadership and success.
For women in technology, this journey often comes with balancing multiple roles and responsibilities every single day. Yet despite the pressures, the message remains the same: keep learning, keep growing, and do not fear failure. Fail forward. Every challenge becomes part of the foundation that builds resilience and strength.
For women in cybersecurity especially, the path can be demanding, high-pressure, and constantly evolving depending on the domain you work in. But growth does not come from standing still. No matter how difficult the journey becomes, keep moving forward, keep sharpening your skills, and never stop believing in your ability to rise.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Cybersecurity is one of the greatest opportunities of our time. There is a significant shortage of cybersecurity professionals globally, and an even greater need for more women in cyber. The demand far exceeds the available talent, creating tremendous opportunities for those willing to learn, adapt, and grow in this field.
For anyone looking to enter cybersecurity, do not be intimidated by not knowing everything upfront. Some of the best learning happens on the job. Invest in relevant certifications, build hands-on experience, and continuously expand your portfolio of skills. Cybersecurity offers countless specialties from engineering and cloud security to risk, operations, AI, governance, and threat intelligence, allowing professionals to evolve and create unique, highly valuable career paths.
For those already in cyber, remember that your expertise has value. Advocate for yourself, pursue the opportunities you deserve, and build a career that supports both your ambitions and your family’s well-being. Beyond financial growth, cybersecurity also offers something even more meaningful: the opportunity to protect people, strengthen organizations, and contribute to making the world safer and more resilient.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Personally, self-care is a top priority for me because I firmly believe that if I do not take care of myself, I cannot effectively care for my family or support others around me. Mental well-being, especially in recent years, has become deeply important to me, and I’ve developed a strong awareness of how critical it is to protect and nurture it.
Professionally, the values that guide me most are work ethic, integrity, and productivity. I believe in showing up consistently, leading with honesty, and delivering meaningful results while staying grounded in accountability and purpose.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Aparna
Breaking Glass Ceilings Was Never Enough - I Learned to Jump Off Cliffs
A Story of Survival, Reinvention, and Refusing to Stay Small
When people see women in leadership, especially in cybersecurity and technology, they often see the outcome and not the survival story behind it.
Mine began long before titles, awards, executive meetings, or leadership roles. It began in India, where, as a young girl, I learned exceedingly early that simply existing as a strong-minded female could invite hostility.
From the age of nine, I experienced forms of abuse that many women silently endure but rarely discuss openly — eve teasing, verbal attacks, reputational damage, intimidation, and even physical violence, including being flogged with bicycle chains. Some of the deepest wounds did not come from strangers, but from environments that were supposed to provide safety, encouragement, and belonging.
What those experiences taught me early on was that resilience is not born in comfort. It is forged through survival. There were moments when fear, shame, and exhaustion could have defined the rest of my life. Instead, they became fuel.
My journey was never linear. I initially pursued pharmacy, believing my path would follow a completely different direction. But life has a way of redirecting us toward where we truly belong. I pivoted into information technology at a time when women were still fighting to be taken seriously in technical spaces and eventually found my calling in cybersecurity — a field that challenged every part of my intellect, resilience, adaptability, and leadership.
I did not arrive in cybersecurity through privilege or perfect planning. I arrived through persistence. Over the years, I worked my way up from foundational roles into leadership positions across engineering, operations, risk, modernization, and enterprise cybersecurity strategy. I learned to navigate rooms where I was underestimated, interrupted, dismissed, or expected to fade into the background to make others comfortable.
But one of the greatest lessons I learned is that women cannot spend their lives waiting for permission to take up space. Breaking the glass ceiling was never enough for me. At some point, I realized success required something even more uncomfortable: the willingness to jump off the cliff despite uncertainty, criticism, and failure.
Failure became one of my greatest teachers. Not every opportunity worked out, not every environment was healthy, not every person who smiled was supportive, and not every sacrifice was worth it. But every setback sharpened my instincts, strengthened my voice, and forced me to become more fearless.
I learned that operational excellence, integrity, and work ethic matter. And so do mental well-being, self-worth, and learning when to stop shrinking yourself for environments that benefit from your silence.
Today, cybersecurity is evolving faster than ever through AI, automation, and emerging technologies such as quantum computing. Yet despite all the innovation around us, one thing remains unchanged: the need for resilient, adaptable, and courageous leadership.
Especially from women.
Women in technology often carry multiple responsibilities simultaneously: professionals, caregivers, mothers, daughters, partners, mentors, and leaders — all while still trying to prove themselves in industries that often demand more from them while recognizing less.
My message to women entering technology or cybersecurity is simple: keep learning and evolving. Fail forward. And keep moving no matter what.
There is enormous opportunity in cybersecurity, and the world desperately needs more women in this field — not just because there is a talent shortage, but because diverse leadership creates stronger, more human-centered innovation and security outcomes.
Your background does not disqualify you. Failures do not define you. And struggles do not make you weak.
Sometimes the women who survive the hardest journeys become the ones most capable of protecting, building, leading, and transforming the future.
I did not just break the glass ceiling.
I learned how to survive the fall after jumping beyond it.
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